Urban Strategic Planning from the Perspective of Well-Being: Evaluation of the Hungarian Practice

Abstract

The present paper evaluates Hungarian strategic urban planning from the perspective of well-being. It conceptualises well-being in line with Amartya Sen’s capability approach (CA). We argue that the CA provides a meaningful concept of common good or public interest for evaluation. The open-ended nature of CA allows one to embrace the complexity of strategic planning, but it is definite enough to provide a clear normative framework for evaluation. We base our conclusions on 49 interviews with various local actors in three second-tier cities. We conclude that the CA-based evaluation can supplement the dominantly used conformance or performance-based evaluation approaches. We also found that instead of depicting an unachievable ideal state, the CA is able to provide guidance for feasible steps to further well-being.

Participation in Urban Planning and the Post-Socialist Legacy. Revisiting Maier's Hypothesis Through the Case of Hungary

“…However, in many of them, stakeholder and citizen participation (either strategic or land-use planning) still significantly differs from Western standards (e.g., Tsenkova, 2007;Czupich, 2018;Bajmócy, Gébert, Málovics, Méreiné & Juhász, 2020). While having knowledge on how participation in urban planning looks like in post-socialist countries, we mostly lack analyses on why participation occurs in certain ways (alongside certain process designs) and to what extent it is a post-socialist legacy.…”

“…On the other hand, this does not necessarily mean meaningful participation. Bajmócy et al (2016Bajmócy et al ( , 2020 argued that participation in urban planning is mainly rhetorical, it does not have any influence on the power relations, largely lacks public deliberation and does not provide real opportunities for agency. The processes do not intend / are unable to empower marginalized groups (Málovics, Juhász, Méreiné & Tóth, 2017).…”

The potential role of university community engagement (UCE) in social justice and sustainability transformation - the case of the University of Szeged (Hungary)

“…Szeged is heavily shaped by the presence of the University of Szeged (SZTE) (Bajmócy et al, 2020). It is a prestigious institution in Hungary, where study and scientific fields are represented in 12 faculties and the Teacher Training Centre.…”

Environmental Policy Integration and Its Success on Settlement Level in Hungary

“…Following the change of regime, the organizational, institutionalized and civil framework conditions and systems of environmental protection improved. Besides, urban strategic planning has also become common in the post-socialist CEEC countries (Bajmóczy et al 2020). In the 1990s environmental pollutions were clearly reduced (Szirmai, 1999).…”